


Bright Blue Eyes

by crystallies



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa Zero, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: A lot of triggering shit in here fair warning, Attempted Murder, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, BUBBLEGUM ROCK, Child Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, F/M, Gay Sex, M/M, Panic Attacks, Pre-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-05 21:27:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6724192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystallies/pseuds/crystallies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Would you leave me,<br/>If I told you what I've done?<br/>And would you need me,<br/>If I told you what I've become?</p><p>Kazuichi Souda fell so easily for Leon Kuwata, and despite himself and the obstacles coming between them, those bright blue eyes filled him with such love and hope that they could make it through anything. Sure, that's what wishful thinking is all about, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bright Blue Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This seriously started out as a fic explaining how Kazuichi got ahold of Leon's black baseball cap that you see him wearing in his new anime design for the DR3 series (because that's LEON'S BASEBALL CAP NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE) but it snowballed into this despairingly detailed fic and I'm honestly not sorry about it. 
> 
> WARNING there is a lot of fucked up shit in here that might set some people off, but Danganronpa is a messed up series to begin with so you're all probably expecting this. Now we just gotta figure out how the fuck I come up with this shit and why I put myself through it in the first place...
> 
> *I do happen to have a despair playlist if anyone is interested for some background music while reading, comment about it and I'll link it somewhere*
> 
> Title and chapter titles come from "No Light, No Light" by Florence + the Machine, this song speaks to me about their relationship and especially inspires me to write this fic. Blame a certain Leon I know for this part, he sent me the song and r u i n e d me.

For all intents and purposes, Hope’s Peak Academy was a very large institution. You could basically live there, if you wanted to. Sure, the school offered everything one could possibly imagine, but it sure wasn’t cheap. Therein lay Kazuichi Souda’s biggest issue with attending the school of his dreams: he could barely afford it. The school provided most amenities to their talented students, of course, but some of those things just were not included. “Do we look like a charity?” the recruitment agent scoffed incredulously at Souda’s father, who had asked rather gruffly for a summary of all that would be provided for his son should he choose to allow him to go there.  
  
That had been another issue; Kazuichi’s father simply couldn’t justify allowing his son to head off for another three years of high school when he could be using his invaluable time and skill to make them some more money in the bike shop. It took Kazuichi’s begging to the point of almost sniveling on the ground and an agreement that the boy would return home immediately after class to work at the shop for the remainder of the evenings. The tuition and other expenses wouldn’t pay for themselves after all.  
  
So there he was, clad in a much crisper and cleaner blue jumpsuit (with added accessories, of course), staring at a familiar yellow jumpsuit tossed over a chair in his old bedroom. He was 18 years old, having completed his first year at Hope’s Peak in a surprisingly under whelming manner. Grueling work at home followed the challenging courses he took at the school during the day, but at this point Kazuichi was used to it. He didn’t stand out, he still had no friends. He gnawed on his lower lip at the thought, fighting back angry tears. Who’d have thought that it was gonna be the same here? A co-ed school no less. Back at Toushima Tech, it was an all boy’s school and everyone pushed him around since he excelled so far above everyone else. It was to be expected. Of course, Kazuichi received no recognition for that at home, simply “there’s a couple bikes in the back that need fixin’ kid, get to it.”  
  
Hell, there were plenty of cute girls at Hope’s Peak, including one girl in his own grade that was a real life princess! But Kazuichi simply hadn’t the foggiest on how to approach girls; he was used to an all-male environment, especially since he never knew his mother to begin with and had no sisters or aunts, really. The first day of his second year was to begin tomorrow, and he was nervously trying on what he had designated as his “school jumper” and staring at himself in the mirror hung on the back of his door. Long, untidy black hair, wide hazel eyes magnified slightly behind glasses that framed his face to the point of dominating it. Same old Kazuichi. Feeling sick after staring at himself like this, he turned away. A plastic shopping bag sat on his bed, untouched. He went to it and emptied its contents; he picked up the two boxes of hair dye and set to work. About an hour later, he returned and began hacking away at his hair with a pair of scissors.  
  
Shaking, still unsatisfied, he ran back to the bathroom and grabbed the electric razor and began clumsily shaving the side of his head. A chunk of pink hair from the other side kept getting in his eyes; with a small plastic rubber band he swiftly braided it and kept it in place. From his bag, he popped open the new unopened bottles of prescription contacts that he had ordered last week; he messily shoved them into the respective eyes in which they belonged, angry tears spilling over at the irritation but only for a moment. He was shockingly pink. Too docile, still. Grinning to himself, he gripped the industrial nail file and brought it to his first tooth.  
  
~  
  
He managed to evade his father on the way out towards the bullet train station; for the first time in his life, however, he was on the receiving end of many a curious or even frightened glance from passersby, even with his bright hair stuffed under a grey beanie. Kazuichi wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He had taken twice as many painkillers as he would normally have for any given ailment, as his teeth were still quite sore. He had been up all night rigorously, quietly sawing away. He only needed the front set of teeth to look the part, anyway, but it was still grueling work. Aboard the train he dozed off for a bit, thankful that the stops jolted him enough awake to pay attention to when he had to exit.  
  
At the school, he didn’t blend into the background at all. People actually made eye contact with him, squinted as if trying to understand what his talent was, or outright gawked. The latter group were usually students of the Reserve Course, who Kazuichi only ever ran into at the entrance or the main hallways. He recognized a few other Ultimates, but many new faces populated the halls. Fresh recruits, he thought; perhaps he could be someone’s senpai this year...  
  
“You! Pink hair!”  
  
Kazuichi jolted out of his thoughts as a blur of color and limbs descended upon him; he let out a yelp as he was tackled and pushed into the wall beside him. Gaining his bearings, he focused on the individual who had done this: it was a girl, with long black hair that seemed to stick out in some sort of spiky ponytail. Parts of her hair were blue, others white, but her bangs were styled in a jutting out of pink and blue spikes. She had spiky ear piercings too, and some of her crazy hair was gathered into two swirly horns atop her head; her face was eager, eyes (Kazuichi’s heart picked up when he saw she too wore pink contacts) glittering, three piercings near her lip. She did not seem to care for the uniform, either, as she was wearing it only in part with her own tie, skirt, belt, and leggings with skeleton bone designs superimposed on top of them. The most important thing about her, though, was that she was in fact, a girl.  
  
“Your hair! It’s so pink! I’ve got pink in my hair too, look!” she began excitedly, fiddling with Kazuichi’s braid and then pointing to her own pink bangs. Kazuichi’s face was the color of a tomato, but he managed to gulp out a reply.  
  
“Y...yeah...” he cursed himself, that’s it? First conversation with a girl, a cute one albeit odd, and that’s all he managed to say?  
  
“Ibuki thinks you’re pretty cool! Eeeeh, do you have shark teeth? Are you the Ultimate Shark Man? I should write a song about that!” she babbled, and Kazuichi’s head swirled with all the information she was spouting at once.  
  
“What’s an Ibuki?” he managed to get out, and she gave him a surprised look before laughing.  
  
“Ibuki is me! Ultimate Music Club Member, Ibuki Mioda!” she stuck out her hand officially, and Kazuichi tentatively shook it. “Who’re you? Pink Shark Man can’t be your real name... Unless it is!” she finished with an air of mystery about her statement. Kazuichi found himself snorting at her words, trying his best to impress her and not mess up his first genuine interaction with another Ultimate at the Academy.  
  
“No way! I’m Kazuichi Souda, the Ultimate Mechanic. So if y’ever need anything fixed, I’m your guy!” he managed to say all of that without combusting, which surprised him quite a bit.  
  
“Aw, you’re not a shark man? That’s ok, if you were I’m sure Tanaka-kun would be all over you...” she pursed her lips as if deeply in thought, while Kazuichi wondered bewildered what she meant by that. “You should come to meet the newbies with me! Ibuki wants to scope out kohais! Ibuki wants to be a senpai this year!” she continued with a grin, not so much waiting for him to reply before linking arms with him and dragging him with her.  
  
“Eh! I was just thinking that...” he mumbled, but Ibuki heard him and giggled.  
  
“Souda-kun wants a kohai! Let’s find another shark man, oooh maybe a lion man or a snake man...” she sing-songed through all sorts of other animal types before they reached the courtyard, where many of the newer students seemed to all be gathered. A few tables were set up here and there with staff members passing out information packets and what looked like room keys and maps.  
  
Ibuki led the mechanic towards one of the benches in the middle of the courtyard and pulled him to sit beside her; she reached over to invade his space briefly to flick his braid over his shoulder before making a satisfied huffing noise (the braid fell back to its original place not a few moments later, and Kazuichi remained perplexed but flushed regardless).  
  
They watched the new students for a while, their marveling wide eyes and false confidence striking Kazuichi a bit as he wondered _did I look like that too coming here last year...?_ None of the students really stood out to him as someone that could or would be interested in becoming his kohai... A startling thump to the back of his head was enough to send him into a loud fit of screeching as he toppled forward out of the bench and faceplanted on the ground; something had hit him, and hard enough to send him sprawling. Ibuki’s laughter (not malicious, although still embarrassing enough for Kazuichi) was drowned out by the boisterous but altogether pleasant voice of someone apologizing and yelling while doing so.  
  
“Fuckfuckfuckfuck dude my bad! I seriously didn’t mean to hit ya, I was aiming for over the tree but some weirdo lookin’ cotton-candy-haired guy knocked into me and threw me off... You good, bro?” the owner of the voice suddenly had his hands on Kazuichi’s arms and was pulling him back up into a sitting position. Kazuichi blinked a few times, there were three red-headed heavily pierced punk boys staring at him with concern until he blinked, and two of them vanished momentarily before reappearing again.  
  
“There are three of you,” he muttered, an incredulous tone to his voice. The redheads all winced simultaneously.  
  
“Shit, that’s no good. Uh, dude, what’s your name? Are you here for orientation too? I can uh, drop you at your dorm... Fuck, help me out here?” they turned to Ibuki who was at this point fiddling with the small piercings on her lip and not paying attention to the situation at hand.  
  
“Oioioioi! I’m your senpai, idiot!” Kazuichi retorted feebly, wobbling a bit as he tried to stand up but failed miserably. His brains felt completely rattled inside his skull. “What’d you even hit me with? A rock?” he muttered.  
  
“Nah, a baseball. I got into this school as the Ultimate Baseball Star... Leon Kuwata’s the name!” the redheads all merged into one person, finally, and Kazuichi was struck by the rather “out there” appearance of someone who considered himself an athlete. For starters, he was taller than the mechanic which gave him a twinge in his gut; he sported spiky bright red hair, a multitude of piercings in his ear and what looked to be spiky belts and a chain necklace. He wore a studded white jacket and a white low-cut shirt with a red blood-splattered skull design, and tight black pants. He looked like a punk.  
  
“Baseball, you said?” Kazuichi stammered, looking up and down once more before gingerly tapping his hand to the back of his head. Leon grimaced.  
  
“I fuckin’ hate baseball. I wanna be a rockstar!” he exclaimed with a grin; something silver flashed between his teeth and Kazuichi’s eyes widened as he noted the tongue piercing. This guy wasn’t kidding.  
  
“Ooh, Ibuki thinks you do fit the punk look! You’d look real good up on stage with a guitar! But guitar is Ibuki’s instrument, so you’ll have to pick something else,” the musician finally interjected into their conversation with a flair, ending her point with squinty eyes and a glare towards the newcomer. He seemed to do a double take and then his eyes widened.  
  
“Yo! You’re Ibuki Mioda, the Ultimate Music Club Member! I read about you in the forums, you’re one of the only cool students I saw that would already be attending the school... No offense, dude,” he turned those eyes over to Kazuichi again, who simply shrugged but internally felt his stomach doing somersaults; this was the first moment they had fully locked eyes, and Leon’s were a piercing blue that quite honestly scared the shit out of him. They were so honest and full of excitement, open and shining. Kazuichi had never seen anyone’s eyes so bright; perhaps because he avoided eye contact as a start, but this would still have stopped him in his tracks.  
  
“Eh, whatever, you’ve found your kohai, Mioda! Make sure he doesn’t hit anyone else with his shitty aim, I’m outta here!” Kazuichi found himself blurting out viciously, pushing past the two in an attempt to storm away. He wasn’t sure where that sudden surge of a sick, twisted, rageful feeling came from but it coiled around his chest and insides like a snake. He’d never fit in with these people, he’d be stuck for another year alone...  
  
He thought he heard voices calling towards him, but his ears began ringing before he could make sense of the words. Spots danced before his vision and he blinked a few times before he realized he was wobbling and all gravity seemed to flip him upside down. He hit the floor, unconscious save for a sliver of feeling left that felt a not-so-unfamiliar pair of arms wrap around him and hoist him up. Then, nothing.

~

He awoke, blearily, to the sound of a beeping monitor and what he assumed to be a squeak of some sort; a very soft-spoken voice hurriedly began pouring information into his ears.  
  
“U-um, it’s good you’re awake! Try to lie still and focus on my v-voice... Even if it sounds horrible... I-I’m sorry to be such a nuisance! You had a very bad concussion, so I hooked you up to some fluids and a monitor while you were unconscious... It would be very bad if you went into a coma... O-oh, don’t sit up so quickly!”  
  
But Kazuichi ignored her and was sitting up, looking around the room. This must have been the medical wing of Hope’s Peak Academy, he had never been there before. It was very clean and sterile-smelling, with a few beds laid out with various top-notch equipment attached to them. Cabinets upon cabinets of various medicines lined the walls, and an adjoining room was closed off by a door towards the back. The hallway towards the rest of the school could be heard somewhere off towards the opposite direction, but Kazuichi could not see the door from where he lay on the bed.  
  
A girl’s face suddenly came into his primary line of sight and he let out a quick yelp, fumbling back onto his pillows. She had wide eyes and choppy, uneven dark hair that fell in layers over her nurse’s uniform.  
  
“I’m so-rry!” she drew the syllables out drastically. “Please lay back, you’ll be much more comfortable!”  
  
“Eh... Who’re you anyway?” he muttered.  
  
“A-ah! I’m so sorry! I’m a t-terrible human being! I didn’t introduce myself, b-but you wouldn’t want to know someone like me...” the girl began pulling at her hair frantically and only served as an irritant to Kazuichi, whose head was still pounding.  
  
“Just tell me yer name already, ugh you’re so loud...”  
  
“W-ah! I’m Mikan Tsumiki, the Ultimate N-nurse,” she got the sentence out with only one stutter at the end, which Kazuichi thought she should be proud of, and she seemed to look rather pleased with the fact. “O-oh! You have some visitors outside, now that you’re awake... As long as your monitors stay stable I can let them in...” she told him, and his quizzical look in return only caused her to squeak.  
  
“Me? Visitors? I don’t have anyone who’d wanna visit me...” he spoke incredulously, and Mikan shook her head vehemently.  
  
“They’re the ones who brought you here, to be t-treated! I’ll go fetch them right away!” she stumbled away from his bedside and around the corner where he assumed the hallway to rest of the school was located. Kazuichi frowned and sat back into his pillows, biting his lip and finding it astonishing that his teeth no longer seemed to be bothering him. How much did that nurse girl fix...?  
  
“Yo, dude! You’re alive!”  
  
The voice prompted Kazuichi’s head to snap over towards the owner, jaw dropping slightly as Leon and Ibuki entered the room grinning at him.  
  
“Yay! Mister Shark Man is all better!” Ibuki bounced over to him and plopped with a flourish onto the foot of the bed. Leon dragged a chair over to his other side, and Kazuichi could only stare at them in disbelief.  
  
“What’re you guys still doin’ here? I thought I told ya to go fuck off and do your music shit...” he grumbled, crossing his arms.  
  
“Hee hee! Your face is scrunching up all grumpy-like, do you need me to poke you until you smile again? Although you’d still look scary with those teeth...” Ibuki completely ignored his statement and made to reach over and start poking him, but she was stopped by Leon swatting her fingers away.  
  
“The kooky nurse will get upset with us and kick us out of here if you mess with him, he’s all hooked up to those monitors and shit...” Leon whispered, and Ibuki nodded back very seriously, winking over at Mikan who flushed and dropped her tray of bandages.  
  
“I’m serious, what the hell are you still doin’ here?” Kazuichi raised his voice a bit, capturing their attention finally without distraction. Leon blinked at him, looked over at Ibuki as if wondering what to say, before turning back over to Kazuichi.  
  
“Uh, well, I did cause all of this by knockin’ you out earlier... And so I picked you up and carried you here and felt like I couldn’t just leave until I knew ya weren’t like, permanently damaged right?” he started, scratching the back of his head. “And I mean, we’re friends, right?”  
  
Kazuichi did a double take at those words. Friends? He’d never had any of those before, not really. He was still very doubtful that those words meant anything to a guy like him.  
  
“Friends?” he said slowly.  
  
“Y-yeah! Well, I mean, even though you’re technically my senpai, you’ve got that whole cool punk vibe and I can totally see myself being friends with someone like that... You’re friends with Ibuki, she’s gonna teach me all about music so I figured... Sorry to assume I guess...” Leon continued, getting more nervous and uncomfortable looking as the words kept coming. Kazuichi simply stared at him. He thought he looked... cool? Ibuki glanced between the two of them and a sly smile crept onto her face.  
  
“Friends! Yes, Ibuki is friends with Shark Man which means he’s gonna be your friend too! And your senpai, so don’t forget it,” she announced, and Leon nodded vigorously while Kazuichi sputtered.  
  
“H-hey! I never agreed to all of this...” he mumbled, but Ibuki simply grabbed his knee from over the blankets and pinched him, causing a very high pitched squawk to exit his mouth.  
  
“Shark-man Souda-can, you’re stuck with us! Now hurry up and get cleared to leave here so we can go get lunch, you missed all the first classes of the day...”  
  
That day, Kazuichi Souda did not eat lunch alone. He ate in the company of his new friends, and despite the dull aching in the back of his head for the remainder of the day, even whilst tinkering on the bikes in the shop late into the night, it was a reminder of the day’s events and the swelling in his heart was enough for him, just this once.  
  
~  
  
  The next time Kazuichi saw Leon Kuwata besides lunchtimes was, of course, in association with Ibuki. The girl had followed through with taking the baseballer up on his request for a jam session; apparently it went as well as it could go, what with the two of them attempting to play music, but Leon had somehow dropped the bass guitar he had been given and the jack that plugged it in to the amplifier had bent and stuck itself into the instrument, refusing to budge. Naturally, they came running to Souda’s workshop.  
  
“Yo, man, you gotta help me out! She’s gonna freakin’ hate me if I can’t get it fixed!” Leon burst in clutching the bass guitar as if it were a dying child; Kazuichi dropped his wrench, startled. This whole scene would have been less ridiculous if Leon hadn’t been trailing the amplifier behind him on a wheeling cart, pushed by a grumpy looking Ibuki.  
  
“Ibuki can hear you, lion face!” she grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest. “Souda-kun, fix Ibuki’s bass and Ibuki will sing for you!”  
  
Kazuichi had heard Ibuki sing before, and thus he was concerned that what she was offering him was more of a punishment rather than a reward... Instead of voicing these thoughts aloud, lest she hear him, he took the guitar from Leon’s hands and set to work. As the process wore on, Kazuichi “found” other small issues with the bass to fix up, followed by the amp itself, and finally back to the music room where there were all sorts of things that needed tune ups. Joking with Leon and Ibuki seemed to come naturally, what with Leon making stupid jokes and Ibuki cackling genuinely at them, then making some curiously offhanded comment about something Kazuichi’d be fixing so then he’d of course counter and explain properly what he was doing to both of them, Leon’s eyes as round as saucers. It was nice to finally have friends, he thought.  
  
Returning home late, however, was not. Kazuichi hadn’t made it home in time to get the proper amount of work accomplished at the bike shop, and he knew it. He tried to sidestep his dad and make a beeline for his tools, but he was stopped by a strong hand gripping the front of his jumper and brutally shoving him against the wall.  
  
“I already let the weirdo girly hair and getup pass, but you comin’ back here late and defyin’ my direct orders so you could go to that freak school at all? My one condition and ya come back late? Am I a fuckin’ pushover huh? NO!” his dad’s words escalated and Kazuichi refused to make eye contact, but the second he dared glance up he was met with a fierce push that had him toppling sideways onto a propped up bicycle, sending both him and the bike sprawling onto the floor. His dad huffed, running his hands through his hair. “Shit. Now that’s another thing you gotta fix. I want it done tonight, ya hear?” he growled, then marched out of the shop and back into the house.  
  
Kazuichi lay on top of the bike, not caring that it pressed into his back uncomfortably, shaking until he heard the sound of the television turn on softly. Trembling, he picked himself up off the floor and fought the tears as he set to work.  
  
~  
  
Ibuki and Leon began dragging Kazuichi to their music sessions more often, since something would always end up breaking. This progressed to them hanging out even for breakfast, although Kazuichi could never afford to bring his friends food, but he’d try to share what he had if it was any good. The school provided food of course, but you had to pay for it. Kazuichi could only pay for his own share, but somehow Ibuki would always buy two drinks or Leon would end up with an extra cookie. Kazuichi didn’t mind, although he would try his hardest to avoid feeling bad about being a charity case as it would make him want to cry and he would not cry in front of his new friends.  
  
He always made it a point to leave school as soon as classes were over, despite them wanting to hang out after; he explained that he had a job, which baffled them. Ibuki seemed to drop it after a while, as honestly no one really understood what went through her mind; Leon would furrow his brow but not push it despite Kazuichi seeing how he desperately wanted to.  
  
When Kazuichi would come to school with bruises, he was usually able to hide them. Roll his jumpsuit sleeves down, and the angry fingers digging into his skin would vanish from sight. Kazuichi had never had this threaten to be exposed until now, until he had friends. Leon was retelling a tale of a previous baseball practice, imitating his coach Nidai.  
  
“Kuwata! You gotta realize that life is full of SHIT and practice can indeed make perfect if you only PUSH YOURSELF!” he roared, and roughly wrapped his arm around Kazuichi’s shoulders to shake him a bit. Kazuichi flinched, as his dad had pushed him rather hard into the wall last night, his shoulder digging into the metal frame of the door beside him as he endured another berating about how his work in the shop was second rate compared to whatever goddamn nonsense he was making up at that crackpot school.  
  
Leon noticed the pink-haired mechanic’s jerk reaction to his touch, and frowned but didn’t say anything. Kazuichi let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding before grinning at the redhead and motioning for him to continue. Kazuichi was normally able to hide his bruises and scars, but with a friend as observant as Leon was, at least in his case, he didn’t know for how much longer that would be.  
  
~  
  
“Ah, shit, I can’t believe this...” Kazuichi grumbled staring at himself in the school bathroom mirror. It was one thing to get motor oil on a jumpsuit, which was commonplace for him. Getting it on his knit beanie however, was not something he wanted to happen. “This will never come out!” he moaned, pulling the hat off his head and trying to scrub it in the sink, to no results.  
  
“Yo, dude, what’re you doing? Where’s your ha-” Leon had walked into the bathroom looking for him, as they had plans to meet so that Kazuichi could help him with a set of equations in his math class. All of the Ultimates took general courses together for some sense of normalcy, and Kazuichi had already taken the previous year’s math course and thus had all his old homework for Leon to look at.  
  
The sight of Kazuichi without his hat, however, was not something the redhead had been privy to; in fact, Kazuichi wore his hat almost constantly. He was still nervous about showcasing what exactly he had done to his hair, as it was definitely striking and different but the mechanic was very self conscious. What Leon was met with was in fact, bright pink hair spiked up in the top and middle, shaved down on the right side of his head while the left sported the same braid he wore every day peeking out from under the beanie. Blue-grey eyes wide as saucers, Kazuichi stared back at them through his own pink contacts and began to panic.  
  
“I f-fell asleep on my worktable and I guess there was motor oil leaking from one of the prototypes of my rocketship and I slept in it and my fucking hat is ruined oh my god I look so stupid I’m a fucking disaster worth shit I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorr-”  
  
“Whoa! Dude chill, your hair is sick as fuck! Really punk rock, I dig it!” Leon waved his hands in front of Kazuichi’s face to get him to stop his babbling, which worked, but the mechanic’s tirade being cut off was enough for him to start blubbering as his body felt all this pent up panic and expectation for one of his only friends to begin laughing at him and teasing him for being a freak. To be met with the opposite, however... Kazuichi didn’t know how to deal with that.  
  
“I guess it’s fuckin’ fine if you see it but everyone else out there,” he gestured to the door, hissing and spitting and tears welling in his eyes, “they’ll fuckin’ push me around and call me names because I’m a freak-” he began, gulping in air and trying his best to not start crying because dammit he wasn’t going to cry in front of Leon...  
  
“Dude, if you’re worried, here,” Leon swung his bag around so that he could rummage through it for a moment before digging up a crushed black baseball cap from its depths. “I’m never gonna wear this thing again, not with this hair! Ha! You keep it, even if it’s from my old school...” he handed the cap to Kazuichi who slowly reached out to take it, but when his fingers brushed Leon’s during the exchange he flinched and nearly dropped it. Leon chuckled and clucked his tongue, the piercing making a metallic ding against his teeth. “You’re such a weenie sometimes, but you’re cool ok? Chill out and don’t give a fuck about what those douchebags say to you got it?” he stated firmly, gripping Kazuichi’s shoulders to shake him a bit in order to drive the point home.  
  
“Y...yeah, ok, fine,” the pink-haired male mumbled to himself; still facing Leon, he turned the cap in his hands momentarily before hesitantly lifting it to place it on his head. Leon made a choking noise.  
  
“No way dude, never wear a baseball hat that way! Looks fuckin’ lame, here,” he reached out and plucked the hat off of Kazuichi’s head before flipping it around so that the brim of the hat was facing the back; he set it over the mess of pink spiky hair, grinning at Kazuichi once it was on his head completely. “There you go, looks good!” Kazuichi wanted to turn to look into the mirror to see, but he was overwhelmed by a sudden warm, twisting sensation in his chest and gut as he looked up at the redhead. Was Leon always this much taller than him? Why was it making his insides squirm, and not unpleasantly?  
  
Leon arched his eyebrows but said nothing; Kazuichi didn’t notice Ibuki spying on them from the slightly ajar door to the boy’s bathroom.  
  
~  
  
One day, Kazuichi almost didn’t go to school because of the severe beating he had taken from his dad the night prior. It was understandable, as the previous day had been the same day as when his mom had left them. Kazuichi was two when it happened so he barely remembered it, just angry yelling and slamming of doors and his dad furiously cleaning the house for the next few days. It never made sense to him, but his dad was always very violent every time that day of the year rolled around; this time, Kazuichi had taken a punch to the face and an ugly bruise had blossomed across his cheek. He had no idea how to hide it, so that morning he wore a tattered old hooded jacked over his usual hat and jumpsuit combo in hopes that no one would notice if he had it pulled up. He’d just say he dropped a tool on his face or something...  
  
Walking into the main school building he held his face down, shuffling past the other Ultimates as quickly as possible in order to get to his workshop. Not looking where he was going, however, was detrimental to this process as he ended up colliding with another person. They both were sent sprawling to the floor, books clattering out of the other person’s bag and his own hood coming off his face.  
  
“Ah, shit, sorry!” he exclaimed, gathering the books as best he could in order to get up and run off as quickly as possible.  
  
“I am terribly sorry, it most certainly was my fault! I was so engrossed in this month’s copy of Occult and Dark Lore that I ran into you! I must insist I repay you somehow!” the voice was female, pleasant, and overly formal. Kazuichi peeked over and nearly had a heart attack upon seeing who it was.  
  
“P-princess Sonia?” he stammered. The Ultimate Princess always was recognizable, especially to Kazuichi who had spent this year hearing many impressive things about her from the likes of Ibuki. She was literally every guy’s dream girl: graceful, beautiful, and kind.  
  
“Indeed, my reputation must proceed me... Although I am sorry to say I do not know you, may I ask your name?” she questioned, gathering some of her books while Kazuichi remained frozen with his hand on the one she had been reading.  
  
“Um... Kaz... Kazuichi Souda, the Ultimate Mechanic,” he spoke softly, gripping the thin book and handing it to her.  
  
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Sonia spoke, smiling at him. Her smile turned into a furrowed brow and her lips pursed, however, upon staring at him slightly more closely. “Souda-kun,” she pronounced the honorific with a very forced tone, “what, pray tell, has happened to your face?”  
  
“Shit.... I mean, uh, nothing!” his eyes wide, he scrambled to pull the hood back over his face. “It’s nothing, mechanic’s clumsiness if you will. I, uh, dropped a wrench on my face last night. No big deal,” he muttered, mustering a fake smile.  
  
“I see. However, your being the Ultimate Mechanic suggests that you would be quite adept at handling tools, yes? Therefore I do not believe you,” she stated primly, helping herself up and then proceeding to offer her hand to him. “You will come with me, now. This is not a request,” she allowed Kazuichi about two seconds to stand before forcefully grabbing his arm and marching down the hall towards the ladies’ restroom.  
  
“Eh... Miss Sonia, I think that’s the wrong...” he stammered, not quite sure what was happening.  
  
“Oh, if you are uncomfortable, we can go to this one.” She turned and dragged him over towards the men’s room, and Kazuichi let out a sound of protest before she pushed the door open and they were inside. She ordered him to stand over by the mirror and then began rummaging around in her bag; Kazuichi was blurting out excuses and protests left and right, but the princess simply ignored him and all of a sudden grabbed his chin to look straight at her. He flushed tomato red, squeezing his eyes shut. Was she going to kiss him? How did this happen, of all things? Kazuichi didn’t know how to process what was going on, until a few moments later he felt something cool and soft pressing against his bruised cheek.  
  
Opening his eyes slowly, he noted Sonia’s face scrunched up in concentration as she applied makeup to his bruise and blended it into his skin with a very gentle touch. Kazuichi was speechless, blinking down at this angel of a woman who simply, selflessly went to help him as soon as she saw his predicament, and against his will at that.  
  
“M-miss Sonia?” he croaked, gripping the bathroom counter with one hand and gulping down saliva that had stuck in his throat.  
  
“Souda-kun, you may not wish to reveal the truth behind your injury, and that my curiosity over its origin is as they say, ‘none of my business’... yet I will not stand by and allow others to make you uncomfortable with such questions, as you seem quite perturbed by this whole ordeal. Furthermore, I owe you this courtesy as I ran into you in the hallway,” she explained, adding another layer of makeup over the first after it had dried a bit.  
  
Kazuichi blinked at her, willing his face to not scrunch up into the teary-eyed mess he knew it would; he couldn’t cry in front of a princess, goddammit! He sniffled, taking a deep breath and, unable to meet her eyes, stared at the flower on the headband she wore.  
  
“Thank you. Uh, means a lot,” he managed, proud of himself for not stuttering or sniveling like an idiot. Sonia smiled at him and squeezed his arm, before taking out a powder compact and dabbing over the makeup with it.  
  
“This should help seal it so that it won’t smear. Keep these, I insist... it will help to replenish it throughout the day.” With that, Sonia the Ultimate Princess gave him one final wave before exiting the men’s restroom, leaving Kazuichi Souda dumbstruck and clutching tubes of makeup in his trembling hands.

~

As the weeks following the incident with Sonia in the bathroom drug on, Kazuichi couldn’t seem to get her out of his head. He was becoming a bit obsessed, really, and he could feel it happening while at the same time unable to rein it in. He noticed his two closest friends, Ibuki and Leon, seemed to be getting annoyed with him constantly ranting about Sonia whenever he got a chance, but his mouth seemed to blurt out words he couldn’t control and despite seeing the irritation flash in their eyes, he couldn’t stop himself.  
  
“And today in our literature class she read an entire passage from the book in three different languages! Miss Sonia is amazing,” he gushed, while Leon and Ibuki sat in the music room tuning instruments. Leon rolled his eyes, and Ibuki scrunched up her nose.  
  
“Kaz, you said that already. Twice.” Leon grumbled, shooting Ibuki a look that Kazuichi didn’t quite understand. They had been spending a lot of time on their own, talking furiously and seriously until Kazuichi arrived and asked them what was up. They’d resume behaving with their cheery, happy-go-lucky demeanors as soon as he approached them in these situations which upset the mechanic greatly, because he felt like they were hiding something from him. He felt a familiar twirl in his stomach when Leon used that pet name for him, though, and flushed a bit before returning to tinkering with the speaker system.  
  
“Ibuki thinks that Souda-kun needs to just ask the princess out already and get turned down, then maybe he’ll get over it and move on to what he really wants...” Ibuki interjected nonchalantly, her eyes glittering towards where the other two boys sat.  
  
“No way!” both of them shouted, faltering a bit as they realized they had simultaneously responded.  
  
“I could never do something like that! She’d totally laugh at me in the state I’m in now... I need to go all out and make something amazing for her so she’ll have to like me!” Kazuichi countered, chewing on his lower lip lightly. Leon huffed, looking away from him towards Ibuki.  
  
“Y-yeah, he needs to really impress her first. That’s the best way to pick up chicks!” the baseball player mumbled, looking pretty uncomfortable about his words for some reason. Kazuichi furrowed his eyebrows but didn’t question it. Leon was backing him up, wasn’t he? Ibuki made a face at them, hopping down off the stage and setting her guitar back in its case.  
  
“This is getting ridiculous.” She turned towards Leon, eyes fiercer than either boy had ever seen them, as both of them visibly recoiled and took a step back. “Leon Kuwata, as my kohai I order you to be honest with Kaz-chan and stop being a weenie!” she pointed at him fiercely, her spiky bracelets making it seem more like a threat than it would have been otherwise.  
  
“Wha... Mioda-san, what’re ya... I’m not a weenie!” Leon fumbled, looking agitated and glancing back and forth between the mechanic and the musician. “Mind yer own business!” he hissed, frantic.  
  
“This is my business, weenie face. You need to be honest if you want Ibuki to keep training you in music! Being honest with your feelings is like, a key part of being a musician!” she continued, stomping her foot to emphasize her severity.  
  
“Oioioioioi, what are you even talkin’ about?” Kazuichi had been somewhat frozen listening to their discussion. Was Leon upset about something? Something he told Ibuki but not him...? Kazuichi felt a jealous bubbling rage start pouring from his chest, turning into angry words that slipped from his tongue. “The fuck you on about? You can talk to her about your problems but not me? You upset with me or something? Spit it out, Kuwata!” his voice raised with every new sentence, and Leon’s eyes grew wide and shone brightly.  
  
“That’s... Don’t go assumin’ things!” the redhead shouted back. “Yeah, though, I guess I am pissed at you! You’ve been gettin’ on my nerves lately!”  
  
“Oh, have I?” Kazuichi didn’t want to admit how much those words stung. Leon was one of his only real friends, and he obliviously did something to upset him and probably was only making it worse. “Well, you could have fuckin’ said something in the first place! Not to Ibuki, but to me! Here I’ve been goin’ on with my life and you’re pissed at me for no reason...”  
  
“There’s a goddamn reason, a really fuckin’ good one, okay?” Leon interjected, getting up closer to Kazuichi’s face and glaring down at him.  
  
“I bet there is, huh, cus I’m such a mess of a person I just go upsettin’ everyone without even tryin’! And of course ya go tell Ibuki all about it, because you’ve been gettin’ soooo close to her lately! What, you like her or somethin’? You wanna just be around her and I’m the third wheel? You could have fuckin’ said so!” Kazuichi took a small gasping breath upon uttering those words aloud. His brain had simply formulated them and spit them out, but in truth he had never thought about it that way before. Had he stumbled across the reason the two of them were upset, truly, finally? Quietly, now, he continued, “Huh. That must be it. Wow, I really am an idiot, not able to see when a bro wants to be with the girl he likes... Fuck...”  
  
Leon’s eyes widened, those intense blue irises piercing Kazuichi all the way through and making him squirm. Why did finally admitting this sort of thing upset him this much? Yeah, he should be happy that his friends wanted to be together, that was something positive... It wasn’t even the fact that Kazuichi knew this meant he’d be all alone again, but something else tugged at his heartstrings making him want to reach up and clutch his chest because it fucking hurt.  
  
“Ughhhhh, I couldn’t talk to you about it yet, can’t you get that?” Leon groaned, wringing his hands and looking extremely frustrated. “It’s not...” he started again, but a loud slam followed by a click diverted their attention from each other to the door, which was now shut. A glance around the room told them that Ibuki was no longer in there with them. Leon’s eye twitched and he pushed past a slowly more dumbstruck Kazuichi and went to try opening the door. It didn’t budge.  
  
“Mioda, open up,” he started, rather coolly for someone who was locked in a room arguing with another person. “Seriously, not cool,” he got louder, more frantic.  
  
“You two boys need to sort out your issues, then Ibuki will come back and let you out. I’ll leave you in there all night, so don’t worry!” her contradictory statement snapped something in both of them, and they looked at each other frightfully.  
  
“H-hey, Ibuki, I really can’t stay past school... I gotta go to my job... I can’t stay here overnight...” Kazuichi scrambled over to the door and pleaded through it to the musician, who simply giggled.  
  
“One day not working won’t kill you!” she shouted back, her footsteps picking up and beginning to drift away.  
  
“N...no... You don’t understand,” Kazuichi felt the air leave his lungs as he imagined what his dad would do to him if he didn’t come home that night. Screw this fighting with his friends, getting his father mad at him was a death sentence. “P...please let me out, I gotta go... home...” he tried sounding forceful but the words seemed to be swallowed in his throat and he gasped for air, panicking.  
  
“Yo, Kaz, it’s fine, she’ll come back...” Kazuichi had forgotten Leon was there, too, and that only served to make things more upsetting for the pink-haired mechanic. His friend already thought he was the world’s biggest cock block, and now he was about to see him go into a full on panic attack? Despite being conscious of this, his calm seemed to evaporate away instantaneously and he began babbling uncontrollably.  
  
“Shitshitshitshitshit I cannot be here I gotta get out ohmyfuck he’s gonna kill me I’m so fucked shitdamnfuck...” Kazuichi banged at the door and let out a frustrated yell before turning towards Leon, eyes wild. “This is your fault! You got us stuck in here by bein’ a secretive asshole! Ya could have just talked to me about it, I would have left you two alone!” he screeched. Leon’s eyes sparked from concern to anger at his words.  
  
“Hey, how many times do I gotta say that you have it all fuckin’ wrong? This is not what you think it is...” the redhead trailed off, face flushing out of what Kazuichi presumed to be rage.  
  
“Then fuckin’ enlighten me, what is the big deal?” Kazuichi threw his hands up in the air, the motion causing Leon to flinch a bit.  
  
“It’s about you, okay? You and... Sonia!” Leon blurted, looking rather upset with himself not a second after. “I mean...”  
  
“Miss Sonia?” Kazuichi interrupted, confused. He began biting his lip out of nervousness. Leon let out a soft groan, shutting his eyes as Kazuichi finally was able to muster words again. “You like... Miss Sonia too? Shit... Well, sorry, I’m not backing down, she’s been my type of dream girl since I was little and now that she finally spoke to me I’m not gonna...”  
  
“No! Fuck, it’s not about her...” Leon was exasperated, turning around to face away from Kazuichi, hand on the back of his neck and ears red. The mechanic squinted at him.  
  
“You just said... Dude, you’re not makin’ any sense. Just be real with me, I wanna get out of he-” Kazuichi was cut off as Leon suddenly whirled around and began coming at him very quickly. The mechanic let out a yelp as he was roughly grabbed and pushed against the wall; Kazuichi thought he was about to get punched, and his eyes squeezed shut out of reflex, his arms reaching out to grip Leon’s to try pushing him back, but the athlete was much stronger than him. He braced himself for the impact of a fist, but there was a soft pressure on his lips instead. Kazuichi opened one eye slowly and immediately flushed scarlet. Leon was... kissing him?  
  
The action was enough for Kazuichi to forget what was happening and gasp, but in response Leon groaned and deepened the kiss. His lips parted and melded with the mechanic’s, tongue dipping into Kazuichi’s open mouth, piercing clacking softly against the razor sharp teeth. Kazuichi felt his whole body was on fire, and his grip on Leon’s arms slackened as he melted a little into the taller boy’s arms. Leon’s mouth continued to move against his, one of his calloused hands coming up to pull his head more firmly into the kiss and he was dizzy, the motions causing the baseball cap to dislodge itself from his head. Why did this feel so...  
They broke apart, gasping for breath, a small string of saliva connecting their swollen lips. Both were flushed, the tint of color on their faces a result of something that Kazuichi realized he definitely wanted to feel again.  
  
“Uhn... L...Leon. Wha...” softly, he tried speaking, chewing on his lip harder than before and almost breaking the skin. Leon groaned again, moving in to kiss him once more.  
  
“Kaz, you bite your lip like that and I just gotta kiss you...” he mumbled against the other’s lips, and the mechanic let out a very embarrassed noise before the kiss turned heated again. This time, he tried reaching and grabbing Leon’s hair in his hands and was met with a hum of approval as their tongues tentatively danced together. Leon pushed their bodies flush and further towards each other, trapping Kazuichi against the wall fully. He broke away from their connected lips, darting down to kiss and suck lightly against Kazuichi’s jawline and throat.  
  
“A-ahn!” the mechanic’s voice flew out unbidden, an embarrassing moan resounding through the music room. He quickly brought his knuckles to his mouth, muffling the sound as his skin continued to electrify under the workings of Leon’s tongue and lips. His body was hot, gooseflesh erupting across his skin and his teeth digging in to his fist as he tried to stifle any further humiliating noises that he might make. Leon returned to his lips, pushing aside his curled up fingers and kissing him deeply again.  
  
“Don’t... hide your voice... I like knowin’ you feel good,” he mumbled, nipping at Kazuichi’s lower lip before diving in once more with his tongue and curling it around his own. Kazuichi could only flush deeper and a mewl of pleasure escaped him before he realized what Leon’s actions were doing to his crotch...  
  
“You guys made up, then? Yay! Glad that’s sorted out, Ibuki can’t create more masterpieces with a headache!” at the voice, Kazuichi made to fly apart from Leon, but the baseball player simply removed himself from Kazuichi’s lips and continued keeping him in place. Ibuki had poked her head in the doorway, eyes sparkling and a large grin plastered on her face.  
  
“You don’t need to go interruptin’ just as it was gettin’ good!” Leon whined, turning back to Kazuichi and pouting a bit which was cause for more blushing on the mechanic’s part.  
  
“U...uh, I’m still a little... Lost...” he stammered, blinking as he avoided making full eye contact with the boy in front of him who had just taken his first kiss. Not that he was unhappy about it, but it definitely threw a wrench into his understanding of everything, so to speak.  
  
“You’re really dense, Souda-chaaaaan!” Ibuki huffed, stepping fully into the room. “Leon-baka really wanted you to like him so he kept asking Ibuki for tips, since I’m his senpai too and know all about this sort of stuff. You kept going on about ‘Miss Sonia’ this and that, and he was jealous! So Ibuki locked you both up so you could kiss and make up. It worked, see?” she opened her hands wide as if gesturing to the two of them, still intertwined against the wall for the most part with thoroughly kissed lips.  
  
“U...uh. I... I don’t really know what to say...” Kazuichi mumbled, looking away from both of them. He didn’t quite know how to process this... Leon, one of his best friends, liked him as more than that? Plus he was a guy... Panicking a bit, he realized his dad could never find out about this... Leon seemed to sense the mechanic’s agitation and he wrapped him up in his arms, face pressed to the crook of Kazuichi’s neck.  
  
“Hey, it’s okay, I’m not gonna... Push ya or anything. It’s just... I dunno, I kept tryin’ to deny that I liked ya from the start and made up for it by flirting with a lot of girls but it always blew up in my face... And finally Ibuki kinda got what was up and made me confess. So I was nervous an’all that, but I guess seein’ you upset like you were just now somethin’ snapped in me and I had to.. tell you...” he pulled away to stare with those bright blue eyes straight into Kazuichi’s soul, it seemed. “Cus I mean, tellin’ someone you like them and showin’ them how you feel’s supposed to make you happy, right? Unless now you hate me, which I’d totally get because we’re both guys an’ that sorta thing would get most people punched but Ibuki told me it doesn’t matter as long as you feel good with the person and I feel so amazing when I’m with you, Kaz...” Leon was rambling a bit, but with each word Kazuichi’s heart stuttered more and more until a switch seemed to flip and he was pulling Leon down to his lips and kissing him senseless. That was all it took, really, for Kazuichi to fall.

~   
  
They began meeting in between classes and finding secluded corners to make out in, getting more familiar with each other in the process. Leon was the one who sought out Kazuichi at first, as the mechanic was simply much too shy to do so and was still struggling with the whole, uh, ‘gay’ thing. He still found girls attractive, but a little voice in the back of his head told him he was probably fooling himself. That all along he hadn’t been good with girls because he didn’t want to be, that his constant try-hard ideas to impress women would wither and die because he made it so... and in many occasions, when these thoughts came up, Kazuichi believed them.  
  
With Leon, everything felt so light-hearted and playful and amazingly _right_ so that eventually, when the baseball player broke apart from one of their more heated kisses in the middle of lunch period down the hallway leading to the athletic department, and with swollen pink lips kissing down his neck and Kazuichi panting like a dog, he muttered “go out with me” against warm skin, the mechanic’s heart faltered a moment in disbelief that he would even be asked such a question. But the response flew from his lips much louder and breathier than he’d expected, quickly too.  
  
“Yes!”  
  
He felt tears coming to his eyes, now he belonged to someone in the most intimate of ways, and that person was Leon and he was wanted, liked, desired... The bright blue eyes of the baseball player seemed to gleam even more so as they met with Kazuichi’s again after hearing the response, and he dove in for a much more passionate kiss, grinning after a moment as he pulled away. Resting his forehead against the mechanic’s, his smile shone.  
  
The bell tolled and students began to pour out of the lunch room, and the two boys reluctantly parted but not before Leon gave Kazuichi a quick peck on the lips and headed off to meet with some of the friends in his year, a spring in his step as he walked. Kazuichi couldn’t help smiling at his... boyfriend’s actions, reveling in the fact that _Leon Kuwata was his boyfriend_ for a moment as well before turning towards the direction of his workshop.  
  
He turned so quickly, however, that he bumped into someone and almost sent them sprawling. This was happening a lot, he cursed himself internally as he made to apologize but words caught in his throat.  
  
“Whoa, like, you look thoroughly made out with. Snuck out of lunch to do the nasty with someone?” Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista, stood before him with her ample cleavage serving as the most distracting part about her for Kazuichi... They were just so huge and right in his face and honestly he was a little scared of them. “Ooh, was it that guy?” she pointed a manicured red nail after Leon, and Kazuichi was so entranced that he dumbly nodded without thinking, flushing a bit as he realized he’d admitted it.  
  
“Eh, I haven’t really told anyo-” he began, worried, but she ignored him.  
  
“You lucky bastard, I’ve heard he’s really good at it, but he takes a loooot of girls to bed... Didn’t know he was into guys, but hey, if you’re good, you’re good...” with a shrug and flip of her voluminous hair, she flounced past him, a cold dead weight settling in the pit of his stomach. “Come see me sometime if you’re wanting to talk about anything, I know how to deal with boy trouble all you like!” she called with a wave, turning the corner. Kazuichi felt like all the air had been punched out of his lungs, and his floaty feeling of contentment crashed down around him and reality settled in.  
  
Who would want someone as messed up and weird as him? Certainly not a popular, multi-talented, attractive, genuinely cool person like Leon. Kazuichi wasn’t good with people, just machines. This was probably just a game for Leon, he was good at playing games and playing instruments and playing people.  
  
‘ _Then why did he ask you to go out?_ ’ the small voice laced with hope inside Kazuichi’s head spoke up, but he viciously cast it aside. It was probably so that he’d come back for more, keep him on lockdown, he wasn’t going to make their “relationship” public, no way, who’d want to be tied down to a worthless grease monkey like himself...  
  
He didn’t realize he had made it to his workshop until he knocked over a screwdriver off the table and its metallic clatter brought him back from the depths of his head. He had been tinkering with a small prototype of a rocketship earlier on, and in his musings he hadn’t realized his hands were working of their own volition and clicked a few more parts into place. Blinking at it, he noted that it looked complete; he swallowed thickly, pushed the switch at the back, and he watched dumbstruck as it sputtered a bit before taking off. He couldn’t do anything but watch as it zoomed around the room effortlessly. He didn’t think about Leon for a few minutes as he watched it fly. He didn’t see anything but the completed prototype of his greatest dream, functional and performing.  
  
He didn’t see the fluffy mane of pinkish hair observing him from the doorway, manicured nails digging deeply into her palms and a twisted grin spreading across her face.

~

Leon of course noticed Kazuichi actively seeming to avoid him for the next few days, and it bewildered the baseball player who attempted to figure out if he had done something wrong. He finally managed to catch Kazuichi for more than a brief second on the way home from school at the end of the day, and Kazuichi felt a rising sense of panic as he wanted to not deal with this problem and hoped he could just disappear. Obviously that was ludicrous.  
  
“Yo, Kaz... Uh, what’s up? I haven’t seen you in a few days...” Leon began, clearing his throat in hopes that the meaning behind his words was understood.  
“Yeah you have, I’ve seen you in the halls and waved and all that,” Kazuichi refused to meet his eyes.  
  
“Um... I’ve missed you, though, I haven’t really seen you if you get what I’m saying...” Leon let out a small laugh, straining to meet his boyfriend’s eyes.  
  
“Oh, you mean in secluded hallways, makin’ out but not interacting in front of other people like couples are supposed to, you miss that? Sorry I’ve been a little busy with my own work, can’t be there to satisfy your needs all the time,” Kazuichi spat, finally looking up at Leon’s face to find him looking as if he’d been slapped.  
  
“K...Kazuichi...” Leon’s voice soft, the mechanic felt instantly horrible for saying those words yet still vibrating on a weird emotional high after having spoken his feelings. “Where’s this... What did I...”  
  
“Save it, I know you’re just usin’ me for your own benefit, I’m not worth the time of a cool guy like you to actually wanna date...” feeling the tears well up a bit, he turned to run away but Leon grabbed his arm and whirled him around, eyes flashing dangerously now.  
  
“I picked you, Kazuichi, because I like YOU. I thought I made myself pretty damn clear, I want YOU and you’re one of the smartest, most good looking, sensitive, REAL people at this damn school and I could care fuckin’ less about what people think of us because YOU make me happy!” Leon’s voice rose and people walking past them would give them odd looks, but Kazuichi’s guilt at upsetting his boyfriend started spilling over in the form of tears.  
  
“Oh fuck, Leon I’msorryIfuckedupIseriouslysuck,” he blurted out, gasping as tears started streaming down his face. Leon drew him close, flushing as he too realized their very public setting but remaining steadfast in his proclamation. “I... just... thought... you’d want... someone... better...” Kazuichi continued to gulp the words out between sobs, hiding his face in his boyfriend’s shirt. He felt the taller boy rest his chin on his head, arms tightening and a soft sigh escaping his lips; when he spoke, Kazuichi could feel the rumbling of his voice and he felt so safe and wanted and oh god did he never want to let go.  
  
“I guess I don’t really know what’s goin’ on in that genius head of yours... But I really want to know everything about you, and I want to spend all my time with you that I can. Fuck everyone else. I want you to be a part of my life, not somethin’ you think I’m ashamed of... You want me to tell everyone we’re together, I fuckin will. As a matter of fact... HEY! OOWADA! HAGAKURE!” he suddenly released Kazuichi, who turned his teary eyes towards where Leon was shouting. Some of the kids in Leon’s year were making their way towards the school entrance, dressed in casual clothing as if going out. The mechanic’s eyes widened, and he hastily scrubbed his face to get rid of the tear tracks.  
  
“Yo, Kuwata, what’s up?” a scary looking guy with an obnoxious pompadour and a long leather jacket turned from his path to stare at them.  
“Oowada, This is my boyfriend, Kazuichi Souda. He’s the Ultimate Mechanic, a year above us,” Leon stated matter-of-factly. Kazuichi let out a barely audible squeak as the steely eyes of this Oowada focused on him.  
  
“You alright, Souda?” he greeted. Another guy coming to join him whose hair was even more ridiculous than the first (not that Kazuichi could talk, really) hastily pulled what looked like a crystal ball out of his weird robes.  
  
“Ah, you’re the mysterious love interest! I foretold the day would come that we’d finally meet you, Leon’s been nervous we wouldn’t behave... Want me to tell your fortune as a couple? It’ll be only ten thousand yen!”  
  
“Th-that much?” Kazuichi sputtered, but the other two rolled their eyes and Oowada elbowed the fortune-teller rather roughly.  
  
“Don’t listen to this idiot. He’s in debt and he’ll ask anyone for a phony fortune session... Just take care of this dolt, you’re older so you’d better be wiser or whatever the fuck saying it is...” Oowada looped an arm around the protesting Hagakure and dragged him off, leaving Kazuichi stunned. Turning back to his boyfriend, he noticed how red he was and nervous looking to boot.  
  
“Was it true? You were... Nervous to have them meet me?” he whispered, swallowing thickly.  
  
“Eh, not because of you okay? They’re a bunch of weirdoes, I was worried you wouldn’t like my friends...” Leon trailed off, averting his gaze. Kazuichi grinned up at him, grabbing the front of his shirt to pull him in for a kiss in just about the boldest move he’d made in their relationship to date. Pulling away after a few moments, Leon whistled. “Huh, I should introduce you to my friends more often if this is the response I’ll get!”

~

Things seemed to be going splendidly from then on. Kazuichi and Leon held hands in the hallways and at lunch, kissed publicly upon parting ways, and slowly but surely became one of the more established Ultimate pairings among the students. Kazuichi supposed he had his boyfriend’s popularity to thank for that, although his own appearance didn’t make for a forgettable persona either. As it goes, however, when a seventeen and eighteen year old boy have time to heatedly exercise their hormones upon each other, things get, well, intense. They used the music room for most of their more vigorous escapades, since Ibuki was really the only one who used it and didn’t mind keeping watch for them by playing guitar in the hallway outside (nobody wanted to go near that area when she did this).  
  
At this point in time, Kazuichi had been sitting on the edge of the stage tinkering with a broken clock one of his classmates had given him, when suddenly Leon was in front of him and pushing the tools out of his hands. Kazuichi raised an eyebrow but grinned as Leon pushed himself in between Kazuichi’s legs and tilted his head up to meet him for a kiss. Ibuki had begun her obnoxious music outside, and Kazuichi was glad as a clever swipe of Leon’s tongue and a nip at his ear pulled a throaty moan from his lips. His hands scrabbled alongside his boyfriend’s arms and pulled him forward, wanting to feel closer to the redhead’s warmth, but in doing so he pulled the other boy too far and, catching himself, Leon simply pushed Kazuichi back to lie flat on the stage and he settled on top of him, legs still bent over the stage with Leon in between them.  
  
He moved to kiss along Kazuichi’s throat and sucked a little at the skin; the mechanic’s breathing was shallow, and he reached a hand up to fist itself into Leon’s spiky hair which only seemed to excite the boy further. He sucked over a pulse point on his boyfriend’s pale neck, swiping his tongue ring across the skin and Kazuichi moaned loudly and arched his back off the stage, his crotch rising to brush against Leon’s. The baseball player gasped and pushed back, a hand snaking down Kazuichi’s waist to hold him in place as he began grinding against him slowly, panting into Kazuichi’s mouth as they continued to kiss. The pink-haired mechanic had never felt this aroused before in his life, and on instinct wrapped his arms around Leon’s neck and began pushing his hips back in return.  
  
“A-ah, Kaz.. Uhhhnnn, you’re makin’ me...” Leon struggled to speak as his lips wished to remain connected to Kazuichi’s at all times, and Kazuichi was one hundred percent okay with this. He tentatively reached out to bite Leon’s lower lip softly with his sharp teeth, and was met with a much more forceful thrust against his crotch and a vigorous tongue dipped into his own mouth in response. Kazuichi’s legs pulled up and wrapped around his boyfriend’s waist, allowing their positions to further deepen in friction and they both groaned rather loudly.  
  
“Uhn, I think... We’re wearing too many clothes...” Leon chuckled, pulling away slightly to begin shrugging off his jacket. Kazuichi laughed lowly, brain dizzy from all that lust clouding it, but as Leon reached to start unzipping his jumpsuit, Kazuichi panicked.  
  
“Ah, Leon, uh, we’re in the m-music room!” he stammered, squirming a bit and grabbing hold of his boyfriend’s hand. Leon grinned at him, pulling his hand free and dipping in to suckle on Kazuichi’s collarbone.  
  
“Makes it more exciting, right?” his voice was muffled against the mechanic’s skin, and Kazuichi’s heartbeat picked up but he couldn’t let Leon see him, not like this...  
  
“Um, n-not... He-y, Leon... Can we...” he tried, gasping to find the right words, but Leon sensed the tension in the body of his boyfriend and he sat up again, concern pushing across his features.  
  
“We don’t have to go further, if you’re not ready... I get it...” he sounded dejected but firm, beginning to climb off his boyfriend with downcast eyes.  
  
“Ah, Leon no! It’s not... I’m not... Eh, it’s just, it’s the place... Not the right place for it,” he stammered, latching on to his boyfriend’s waist and pulling him back to fall across him. “Stay here for a little okay? I just don’t wanna do somethin’ like that... With Ibuki screechin’ like a damn banshee outside, on the hardwood floor of the stage in the school music room...” he continued babbling, but Leon’s eyes softened and he rolled over to pull the pink-haired boy to him.  
  
“I got it, I got it. No sweat. Just stay the night sometime and we can do whatever we want for as long as we want.”  
  
Those words sparked an excited feeling in Kazuichi’s chest, while at the same time paining him. He could never stay the night here, he had to go home and work every day after school... Maybe if he could convince Leon to skip lunch one day they’d have some privacy... But still, the reason he had stopped him in the first place were the ugly bruises marring his flesh underneath the jumpsuit. He couldn’t let Leon see him...  
  
Eyes watering but thankfully hidden in Leon’s chest, Kazuichi’s heart thumped uncontrollably as he debated on what could get him past this next step in his relationship.  
  
~    
  
It turned out that Kazuichi only had to wait about another blissful month before things took a drastic turn. He had managed to sincerely dispel any further intense sexual situations by how exhausted he was due to a crippling load of schoolwork and a strangely timed increase in activity at the shop. Kazuichi and Leon called each other every night when the mechanic knew his father was passed out drunk, as it helped the exhausted boy fall asleep listening to Leon’s voice every evening and soothed him into a more pleasant state. He had explained to the redhead how they needed the work, and they needed the money, although not quite in as much detail as it should have merited.  
  
Despite all of this, the Souda household was much more tense due to both father and son needing to work together in order to meet their order deadlines. Kazuichi’s father rarely worked anymore unless something like this were to arise, and it made him even more unpleasant to be around.  
  
“Pass me that wrench, I gotta tighten this,” his father barked at him from where he lay under a suspended bike. Kazuichi was also in the middle of using the wrench, and he let out a frustrated sigh before handing it to his dad and waiting for him to finish with it.  
  
“Why’d ya stop working? Get to it!” his dad noticed the inactivity, and Kazuichi flinched a bit.  
  
“I need the wrench too, I can’t move past this part until...”  
  
“You worthless kid! You can work on another bike in the meantimes!” his dad poked his head out from under the bike, glowering at his son. Kazuichi twitched a bit, but remained firm.  
  
“All the other bikes are done... I finished ‘em while you were working on this one...” he replied, and instead of having the subject drop, his dad seemed to inflate more and he actually pulled himself out from under the bike. Kazuichi felt like ice crept across his entire body, and he gripped the side of the worktable in fear. _Why was his dad getting up?_  
  
“You tryin’ to say you’re better than me? You did all the work so you get to slack off, ‘cause you’re faster and a better mechanic than yer old man?” his father’s voice was low, eyes gleaming dangerously. Kazuichi felt small, very small, as his father’s dominating appearance seemed to menace him into a corner. “Well?!” he shouted, breath hitting Kazuichi’s face and reeking of alcohol. The frightened boy let out a small noise before there were stars clouding his vision, bursting across his eyelids as pain soon followed. The wrench had come across his jaw to knock him sideways, a gasp of hurt pushing forward from his throat.  
  
His father wasted no time in hitting him again, this time the wrench coming to bludgeon him across the back of the head and Kazuichi was sent crumbling to the ground, a scream of pain echoing metallically through the workshop. A heavy boot kicked him in the stomach, then, sending air out of his lungs and with no time to regain it, he sputtered as the next kick was aimed at his ribs which he felt crack a bit upon impact. His father pulled back a moment to watch as his son spat blood and whined in pain on the ground, rearing for another blow, when to Kazuichi’s horror his cell phone went off. He scrambled to get the phone and turn it off, but his father was quicker and not injured. He snatched the phone from his son’s hand, and hit the green button.  
  
“Yo, babe, it’s me... Got a little worried when you didn’t call, sorry I called first but I miss hearin’ you...” Leon’s cheery voice so laced with affection almost caused Kazuichi’s heart to stop. The heavy breathing of his father almost made him want such a thing to happen. “Kaz? Babe? You there?” Leon, upon not hearing a response, called out again, but Leon’s father simply threw the phone towards the wall where it collided with a crunch.  
  
“Who was that?” his father crouched over him, using the wrench to push aside his trembling hands that tried to cover his face. “ANSWER ME! Who was that on the phone? Your _boyfriend_?” Kazuichi’s father spat the words out and grabbed his son by the front of his jumpsuit, his bleeding face scrunching up as tears threatened to fall. Words were stuck in his throat, he couldn’t speak.  
  
“I always knew you were a little nancy boy, even if ya knew how to work in the shop... Fuckin’ pink hair, look like a girl...” his dad mumbled, beginning to almost gently roll Kazuichi off his side and press him onto his back into the floor. He whimpered in pain, and that’s when another smack with the wrench cracked across his face. “Stop yer whining! I even tried to raise ya good, even without yer mom here, fuckin’ bitch... Took care of that one, too, might as well tell you... Can’t fuckin’ have no faggot for a son, anyway...” he continued, almost to himself, pressing his full weight onto his son and pinning him to the floor.  
  
“Wh-what...” Kazuichi croaked, eyes going wide despite the pain as his father spoke of his mom. He... took care of it? What did that...  
  
“She kept tryin’ ta talk back and I snapped, you see. Couldn’t take her bitchin’ any more. Choked her out then had my way with her one last time... Had to get rid of her then, it wasn’t easy, but we have a buzz saw so it was messy but did the trick. Had ta spread her bits all over the place...” as he spoke, and so calmly, each sentence was punctuated with another blow to his son’s ribs or stomach, and at one point he even stood to his full height and brought a foot down across Kazuichi’s leg, earning the most potent scream from him yet.  
  
“St-stop it! I’m so-rry! Dad, please, STOP IT!” he began pleading, crying, nose running and body jerking to every nerve ending reacting to the pain that was being inflicted upon his body. His father seemed to not hear him, until suddenly he too was yelling.  
  
“D’you think I want a good for nothin’ faggot for a son? One who sneers down at me and gets off at gettin’ fucked up the ass?” his dad began laughing, viciously, crouching down over his son’s body and staring at him with nothing but malice. “You wanna see what it really means to be a faggot? You wanna see what it means before I deal with you, just like yer mom did?” he hissed, breath stinking and hot across Kazuichi’s face. His blood turned to ice in his veins as his dad suddenly ran a hand over his chest and pushed past the jumpsuit zipper over his thin cotton t-shirt.  
  
“Ya even kinda look like her, right now...” he whispered feverishly, beginning to tug at his son’s clothing. Kazuichi’s brain snapped into gear and he began screaming freely, thrashing about trying to get out from underneath his father who backhanded him once more.  
  
“Stop strugglin’, I’ll hafta hurt you more... Shut the hell up, you little shit!” he barked, pressing his knee into Kazuichi’s chest and knocking the wind out of him as he used his son’s body to push himself up to fumble around the worktable, knocking a few tools to the floor in order to grab a dirty rag. He shoved the wadded up, oil-covered cloth into his son’s mouth and a dazed Kazuichi registered the foul taste before coming back to his senses fully and noting that his father was tugging the jumpsuit off his body. His arms were pinned to his sides by his father’s knees, and he began weeping in earnest as his dad started running his clammy hands all over his body.  
  
His head lolled to the side, unable to watch as he was molested by the one person who he had grown up expecting to take care of him; he felt a clothed hardness pressing itself against his crotch and wanted to throw up, the rag in his mouth only serving to keep it at bay despite the taste. Only Leon had ever done something like this to him... Leon, sweet, caring, wonderful Leon who was probably worried sick by now and had no idea where to go or how to come save him... Kazuichi was going to die here, alone and forgotten.  
  
It was that realization, coupled with a fierce desire to see Leon again, and an overwhelmingly dark feeling of something Kazuichi didn’t recognize, that he spotted the fallen screwdriver that had come from the desk when his father had grabbed the rag. His dad was making horrifying grunts and noises above him, and suddenly was looking away and sitting up to unzip his pants. Kazuichi’s arms were no longer restrained. Eyes narrowing, he pulled his arms out and began trying to scramble away once more, but his dad’s hands were around his throat and choking him so viciously he felt as if his neck was going to snap.  
  
“Yer not goin’ anywhere, ya little shit. Stop strugglin’ and take it like a faggot should,” he growled, keeping one hand firmly around his throat as he fumbled more with his zipper and began pulling on Kazuichi’s boxers. Kazuichi let out a strangled cry, arm still reaching out towards the screwdriver and tears streaming down his face as his father spat into his hand and began touching him in a place he had only ever wanted Leon to go.  
  
And then the pressure was gone, his eyes focused and a startling warmth began spattering across his face. Kazuichi blinked slowly as he noted his own arm with his hand clutched around the screwdriver which was impaled deep within his father’s jugular. Blood sprayed out onto his son’s face as the elder mechanic seemed to be in shock, grip slackening and slowing as he was drained of life. Kazuichi numbly watched as his father rolled off of him, gulping and scrabbling at his neck, twitching as the pool of blood grew around him. When all movement ceased, and the pool of blood had spread so far as to slowly creeping under the back of Kazuichi’s neck and warmly seeping into his hair, he sat up.  
  
Slowly, he pulled the rag out of his mouth and straightened out his boxers. Pulling his jumpsuit back on, he began walking as if in a daze, exiting the shop. He had no shoes on, nothing with him, but he kept walking. The pain coursed through his body like a million knives slashing through every nerve ending, but he welcomed that over any emotional output his brain could produce. It felt like he was floating through a thick gelatinous substance, mucky and draining of energy to get through. He hadn’t realized how far he’d walked nor how long until he blinked up at the pristine building of Hope’s Peak Academy. He’d never seen the school at night, and it looked rather eerie and ominous.  
  
“Ah! Souda-kun, what on earth...” a pleasant female voice, concerned, rushed towards him, and he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder turn him to face Princess Sonia. She was out in a dark dress accompanied by some weirdo with ice cream cone hair, and Kazuichi blinked at him slowly but said nothing. “Why are you in such a state of distress? You are covered in blood, and where are your shoes?” the princess exclaimed.  
  
“It appears, that this mortal is also out to perform a blood sacrifice, my Dark Lady; your full potential has not been awakened, therefore you cannot see the truth yet,” the weirdo had a distinctly deep voice and an odd way of speaking, but his words shook Kazuichi enough at the mention of sacrifices and he began to tremble.  
  
“Souda-kun, what is ailing you? May we be of assistance?” Sonia spoke urgently, a hint of a commanding tone creeping past her gentle words.  
  
“L...Leon,” he croaked, eyes turning wild. Sonia sensed he was getting agitated and immediately began marching him towards the side of the school where student rooming was accessible. The other guy tossed his long scarf about his neck and followed behind them, muttering something about dispelling curses in the night.  
They arrived at Leon’s door within minutes, and Sonia hit the doorbell once, then twice, and then began rapping rather earnestly against the door until a frazzled looking Leon opened it.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, can it wait because I’ve gotta go find... Holy shit, Kazuichi!” Leon’s eyes zeroed in on his very worse for wear boyfriend and upon seeing him so hurt, his hands hovered alongside his body not knowing what to do. “I was so worried... What the fuck happened? Princess Sonia, where’d you find him?” he panicked, turning towards the blonde.  
  
“We came across him on the school grounds. He appears to have walked here...” she nodded discreetly towards his feet, which were caked with dirt. Leon let out a strangled cry and reached out for his boyfriend, attempting to be gentle but needing to hold him. Kazuichi flinched, the contact suddenly reminding him of who and what had just been done to him. Leon took note, but began muttering sweet nothings into his hair and softly stroking his back. Then, Kazuichi began to cry in earnest, gut-wrenching, wracking sobs of revulsion as he gripped onto Leon tightly and those cries turned into screams of pain and loss and fear and he cried and screamed so much that he ran out of breath and exhaustedly fell into unconsciousness while in Leon’s arms.  
  
~

He was woozy, but he half woke to the feel that he had been placed on a bed and the lights were dim, but more light shone from another room further away from wherever he was. Voices could be heard, and once he blinked a bit he could see a small, cute girl typing furiously away at a laptop from the couch of the other room and then Leon strode into sight coming around to peer at the screen from over the couch. The weirdo from before and Miss Sonia were there, too, following Leon to gaze at the screen.  
  
“This would be where he lives, then?” Sonia spoke softly, but determined.  
  
“Yes, this is what I gathered from his school profile. I had to get in and access it quickly but I managed to grab what we needed for now,” the small girl spoke, and Leon reached over to pat her shoulder.  
  
“Thanks, Fujisaki, you’ve done us a huge favor,” he spoke severely, and then he ran a hand through his hair, tired lines of worry creasing his brow. “You guys don’t... Know what this means to me. Having to hear all of that happening to him over the phone while I couldn’t do anything about it... I feel like shit, I couldn’t go there right away...” Leon’s voice was ragged, heavy, and he looked as if he’d been crying. His voice croaked a bit, too, which was a sign of vocal strain... He must have been screaming into the phone, hearing all that transpired between Kazuichi and his father but unaware of the outcome and unable to do anything about it.  
  
“Kuwata-kun, you called Fujisaki to try and help you trace the phone signal, that is as much as anyone would be able to do... You could not have called the police without any information of his location, plus hanging up your phone in order to do so would have left you without means of knowing what transpired. You did your best, and he is safe,” Sonia placed a hand on Leon’s arm, giving him a jolt. She turned towards the weirdo who was holding something fuzzy in his hand. “I trust I can leave the matter to your discretion, Gundham?” she spoke firmly, and the guy called Gundham nodded and tucked the fuzzy thing somewhere inside his scarf.  
  
“The Tanaka Kingdom has many resources that, coupled with your own, will perish any trace of evil in this pink-haired mortal’s dwelling. Leave it to me, along with my Four Dark Devas of Destruction!” he cried, and Sonia smiled up at him in a way she would never smile at Kazuichi, although in his half-sleepy mind he felt a surge of something positive upon seeing them.  
  
Taking a shuddering breath, he plunged back into unconsciousness.

~

Kazuichi awoke feeling sick to his stomach and pain blossoming all across his body. He groaned and tried rolling over, hoping that he’d be more comfortable and everything would stop hurting, only to roll into something warm and suspiciously alive-feeling. Blinking away his sleep, he noted that Leon was lying beside him, and at his movements an arm reached across him to pull him closer and Kazuichi felt his heart swell if not for the intense pain the movement caused. He let out a yelp and that awoke Leon.  
  
“Ah... g’morning, Kaz...” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes, then focusing back on his boyfriend beside him. With more clarity, he suddenly shot up in bed. “Fuck, Kaz, last night! Ah, you must be hurt pretty bad... And you’re still covered in blood, god, I just let you sleep but... C’mon, think you can manage a shower?” he rambled, helping the mechanic gingerly sit up in bed. He gave a small nod, looking quizzically at himself in the mirror upon entering the bathroom. Blood?  
Leon helped him pull most of his clothes off, as his body ached and screamed at him often once he tried doing it himself. He blushed as he was left in only his underwear, and Leon too was a little bit red before he cleared his throat and gestured to the shower.  
  
“All yours, call me if you, uh, need anything...” he trailed off, and Kazuichi couldn’t help but smirk as he noted the way his boyfriend’s eyes raked over his body one last time before he left and shut the door. As he switched on the shower and shakily climbed in to allow the water to hit his aching, dirty skin, Kazuichi marveled at the swirls of water as they ran with the color of the blood caked on his skin and hair. He scrubbed as vigorously as his body would allow, using the shampoo and body wash Leon had lying around and feeling a bit giddy as he did so, as it smelled so much like Leon and Kazuichi loved how he smelled.  
  
Once he felt sufficiently clean, he shut off the shower and pulled a towel towards him, wiping down the water from his skin and staring numbly at the bruises and gashes he encountered. Last night... Flashes of what had transpired blinked across his brain, and he shuddered before resolutely blocking them out. Nothing was going to ruin this, waking up next to Leon was something that could put anything else out of Kazuichi’s mind.  
  
He emerged from the bathroom with the towel around his waist, finding Leon on the bed tossing a baseball towards the ceiling. He stopped as he caught sight of his boyfriend, sitting up and letting out a slow breath upon seeing him in just a towel.  
  
“Uh, d’you have any clothes I can use? Mine are all...” Kazuichi trailed off, frowning, and Leon sprung up from the bed and to the closet, grabbing a shirt and some pants and then heading over to grab some boxers from his drawers. He handed them to Kazuichi, faltering a moment as if wanting to lean down and kiss him, but flushing at seeing the very much almost naked mechanic and noting the bruises mottling his body with a wince. Kazuichi huffed a bit. “I’ll just go change then,” he spoke awkwardly, retreating back to the bathroom and pulling the boxers on, followed by the pants which were a pair of vertically striped black and white ones. Kazuichi smiled a bit upon seeing the shirt: it was the one Leon wore when they first met, the white one with the red skull design off the middle. He tugged it over his drying hair, hissing in pain at the movement necessary to do so.  
  
As soon as he came back out of the bathroom, Leon was upon him and taking his face in his hands to kiss him softly. Kazuichi was surprised but felt his stomach flutter at just how tender and sweet the kisses were, Leon pulling away after a few moments.  
  
“I just thought... So many horrible things happened to you, and I couldn’t protect you or stop them... I didn’t know what was happening after a while and I thought you’d been...” Leon was never quite this emotional with him, and Kazuichi could see those bright blue eyes shining with a depth of hurt that he wanted to wipe away as Leon never needed to look this way. Before he could reply, Leon leaned in for another kiss and was about to reach his lips when a bang resounded from the entrance to the room.  
  
“OI! That boy needs to go to a hospital, don’t be touching all over him like this is a soap opera!” Ibuki’s loud appearances were frequently at the worst times, but Leon seemed to get sheepish and agree with her somewhat as he grabbed Kazuichi’s hand in his and laced their fingers together, tugging him towards the door.  
  
“Ibuki’s right, even though she fuckin’ broke down my door... Hope you fix that,” he glowered at her. “We gotta get you to the nurse chick. Come on.”

~    
  
As Ibuki predicted along the way over there, Mikan just about had a heart attack upon seeing the mechanic. Hastily shoving him onto a bed, she began flitting about looking for all sorts of equipment. Kazuichi groaned a bit but knew he’d come out of this feeling much better by the end of it, and settled back into the fluffy hospital pillows, waiting. What he didn’t expect, however, was another person sitting on the bed beside him once he finally took stock of his surroundings.  
  
“Aw, you look pretty roughed up. Get into some rough bedroom activities with mister baseball star? Did he hit a home run with some kinky stuff?” Junko Enoshima sat filing her nails on the edge of the bed, smirking at him in a ditzy manner.  
  
“What’re you doing here?” Kazuichi bypassed her questions, though they made him blush. Junko giggled, admiring the nail she was working on before moving on to the next.  
  
“Just visiting Mikan here for a bit. Thought she could use the company,” she spoke, just as Mikan returned with an armful of gauze and ointments. The nurse let out a high pitched squeal upon hearing this and nearly dropped everything in her arms.  
  
“N-no, I t-told you I don’t need c-company! You’re t-too kind, Enoshima-san...” the nurse was as red as a tomato, and Kazuichi raised an eyebrow at the interaction. Junko giggled once again before poking Mikan in the side (which might have hurt due to those nails of hers).  
  
“Silly, I told you we’re friends right? And friends spend time with each other! Jeez... So what’re you here for anyway, Jaws?” the fashionista turned her attention curiously towards where a stuttering Mikan was examining Kazuichi’s head injuries. Before he could reply, she let out a loud squeak.  
  
“S-souda-kun! This wound is very deep! Y-ou could have some s-serious damage...” she spoke, agitated, at precisely the time that Leon and Ibuki made their way into the room, seeming to have gotten impatient with waiting.  
  
“Serious damage? To what?” Leon’s voice showed no calm, simply worry as he sat down beside his boyfriend and took his hand.  
  
“Ah, getting a guilty conscience here? Well, if it’s head stuff, I do have a neurologist buddy who might be able to help you out... I’ll go get him!” Junko winked at Leon and patted Mikan on the shoulder as she jumped up off the bed and skipped out of the hospital. Kazuichi couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of apprehension at this new development, as there was something about Junko’s gaze upon his and Leon’s intertwined fingers that unsettled him, though he couldn’t grasp exactly what it was.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Next parts coming soon, please let me know how you all feel in the comments! If there are any mistakes it's because it is 1 AM and I only skimmed through this to check for errors lel.


End file.
